Vicki Calvetti made it out of the mob—or so she hoped. But when the old family hitman, the FBI, the Justice Department, and a smoking hot man from her past crash land on her doorstep, she learns she's not quite done.

An undercover cop chasing revenge, Blake Reilly gets the shock of his life when Vicki walks back into his life and into his club full of more drug dealers than a pharmaceutical convention.

Catching up doesn’t take long, and their undeniable chemistry is full-speed-ahead until someone ends up dead, putting both their lives at risk unless Vicki can remember the secrets she paid to forget.

Review

Okay, first thing is first. This book is marketed as a standalone but FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, don’t subject yourself to that. These need to be read in order, there’s no doubt about it. I feel like this review/rating probably would’ve gone better if that was an advertised fact (so I could’ve read the first book beforehand) but oh well, can’t help it now.

I was definitely intrigued by the story line, but be sure to have a clear head because there’s a lot going on and it’s not always clear what’s happening. There’re a lot of jumps in dialogue, scenes, settings, to conclusions, etc. and I was left more than once shaking my head. Actually, in all honesty, there was probably a solid 60-70% of this book where I had no idea WTF was even happening. It’s just a lot of words pushed together that weren’t making sense in the context or order. I would seriously recommend a few good beta readers to help sort the plot our and give some advise on pacing because there were moments I was quite confused. For the most part I could grasp bits and pieces while finding out more info later (info that needed to be given at the time), so I was at least able to sort of keep up.

The blurb really drew me in and like I said, I was definitely interested. From the pieces I could grasp (it comes together more at the end), I liked the direction of the story and thought it would make one of the better romantic suspense novels I’ve read, once the pervious issues are sorted out.

“How is it possible no one uses your spot?” She couldn’t keep the spot in front of her house on a bet.
“It pays to know the owner.”
“The sign is more of a suggestion than a rule.” He gestured toward the front. “David keeps it open for me.”
“The no-neck son of a mountain goes by the name of David?”
“Not everyone is born with a cool bouncer name.” “Bouncer names are made, not born.”

As for the characters, I appreciated Blake but never really loved him; didn’t hate him either, for the record. He was just sort of there, you know? And the heroine, Vicki, was more aggravating than anything. She seemed to be on a huge power trip because she grew up being told what to do by her mobster family (SHOCKER) and wouldn’t listen to anyone or anything that wasn’t her idea. She became old news really fast in my mind. Oh and she’s a gypsy hypnotist. You know, in case I forgot to mention that.

I liked that these two had a shared history and it could be considered as a second chance romance, but I don’t really see the point in this storyline. The author doesn’t give enough details about their past so other than it being mentioned offhand that they dated in college, it doesn’t at all read like a SCR.

“Fine. I’ll meet you somewhere.”
“Do I look like an idiot?”
He looked… Damn fine. Black leather jacket covered muscles she could only imagine, and his trousers showed off an ass so fine it could grace an underwear ad. What was the question? “I’m sorry?”
“You try to run, darlin’, I’ll hunt.” His eyes glittered. “And I like the chase.”

And what’s up with that ending? It’s completely open ended. Silly me for thinking we might get some semblance of a conclusion? It’s honestly reads as unfinished. Like someone just decided to cut the last few chapters out and leave the story there. There’s no closure, you’re left with more questions than answers, and it felt like a watered down version of a cliffhanger. You’re suppose to be left on the edge of your seat, but you don’t have a enough information to go on. PLUS, I thought these were standalones?

I really wanted to like this book but for the aforementioned reasons, I couldn’t justify giving it more than 3 stars today. I’d like to check out the next story (and subsequently the first as well) to see where the story goes from here, but I think it overall needed some more polishing.

*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

About Cindy Skaggs

Cindy Skaggs started gambling because she needed a quick financial turnaround for an investment opportunity, and her father was right there to pony up the bankroll. She learned valuable lessons that night in betting, bluffing, and folding, until she’d turned a dollar in nickels into some serious money: twelve dollars for a middle school yearbook.

Cindy grew up on stories of mob bosses, horse thieves, cold-blooded killers, and the last honest man. Most of those stories were even true. She has ten siblings, some of whom are older than her mother, has nieces and nephews older than her, and once went to a horse auction with John Wayne. Well, with him in the sense that he was there, and she was also… there. She was the munchkin in line for his autograph with tangled hair and bruised knees that liked to dance on her daddy’s dusty cowboy boots and listen to his tall tales.

With her love of storytelling and heroes, it’s no wonder she turned to books and stories after her father died. She skipped most of the eighth grade to bury herself in books while hidden in her closet, because she was still looking for the perfect story and the last honest man. Her search took her around the world with the Air Force as well as around the world with her education. She’s visited more countries than she can remember, nearly every state in the U.S., and has more degrees than the Tin Man.

As a single mom, she’s still gambling, betting on herself for the first time in her life, turning her lifelong love of storytelling into the one thing she can’t live without: writing. She writes 10,000 words a week in cafes and coffee shops, and some of those 10,000 words are even worth reading. She has an MA in Creative Writing, is working towards her Master of Fine Arts, and has three jobs, two kids, a Pushcart Nomination, more pets than she can possibly handle, and more works in progress than the crew filling potholes after a long Colorado winter.

Facebook is her guilty pleasure, the Twitterverse her happy place, and her blog the one place she’s not telling stories (fictional, anyway). This time around, she’s holding out for the last honest man. You can find her at www.CSkaggs.com